Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Nahum Capitolo 3

Nahum 3:4. That selleth nations— That hath deceived the nations. As the violence and injustice of the Ninevites had been represented under the emblem of a lion, the prophet here paints their irregularities, their idolatry and corruption, under the idea of a prostitute. See Houbigant and Calmet. Those who understand the passage according to our translation, suppose, that by selling the nations, the prophet means subduing them, or transferring the right of government to others; or, selling them as slaves to the same service, to imitate her prostitution and disorders. Compare 1 Kings 20:25.Romans 7:14; Romans 7:14.

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Nahum 3:8. Art thou better than populous No?— No-ammon. Houbigant. The destruction of No-ammon, or Diospolis in Egypt, which Nahum mentions as a late transaction, would greatly assist in fixing the time of his prophesy, if we could know certainly when that destruction happened, or by whom it was effected. It is commonly attributed to Nebuchadnezzar; but that time is too late, and the destruction of No-ammon would fall out after the destruction of Nineveh, instead of before it. Dr. Prideaux, with more reason, believes, that it was effected by Sennacherib, before he marched against Jerusalem; and then Nahum's prophesying would coincide exactly with the reign of Hezekiah, which is the time assigned for it by St. Jerome. See Bishop Newton, and the introductory note. Instead of, Whose rampart, &c. we may read, Whose rampart was the river [Nile], and her wall from the river.

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Nahum 3:9. Ethiopia, &c.— Houbigant renders this passage, The Ethiopians and Egyptians, who are innumerable, were her strength: The Africans and Libyans were her helpers.

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Nahum 3:11. Thou also shalt be drunken— Therefore thou also [like No-ammon] shalt be bought for a price, and shalt be stigmatized with a mark [as purchased slaves were usually served], and shalt seek substance from thine enemy. Houbigant.

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Nahum 3:15. There shall the fire devour thee, &c.— According to the prophet, the city was to be destroyed by fire and water; and we see in the passage quoted from Diodorus, ch. Nah 2:6 that by fire and water it was destroyed. See Bishop Newton.

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Nahum 3:17. Thy crowned— Thy princes. The author of the Observations, in order to explain the phrase. Which camp in the hedges in the cold day, remarks, that the locusts in 1724 and 1725, which in the eastern parts of the world made their first appearance towards the latter end of March, and were prodigiously increased in numbers by the middle of April, began in May gradually to disappear, and retired into the Metijiah, and other adjacent places, where they deposited their eggs, which were hatched in June. These swarms put off their nympha state in about one month, and soon after were dispersed. This retiring in May into the Metijiah, a place full of gardens and consequently of hedges or walls, while the rest of the country, used for feeding of cattle and as arable lands, is all open, without any inclosure whatever—may possibly explain the above words of the prophet. The word גדרות gederoth, translated hedges, precisely speaking, seems to mean the walls of a garden. But it may be asked, Can the months of April and May be called the day of cold in these countries? I observe, that the same word is made use of to signify that grateful cooling which Eglon sought, Jdg 3:20 that these gardens are the places to which the people of the Levant retire for cooling; and that in April and May, the time when the locusts appear in Palestine, the people at Aleppo retire to their gardens; as also, that the locusts are brought by hot winds; from all which I am led to think the day of cold should rather have been translated the day of cooling; the time when people first retire to their summer-houses or country-seats. When the sun ariseth, says the prophet, they flee away, that is, (as I suppose, a like expression, Jam 1:11 is to be understood,) "When the summer advances, they are totally dispersed;" and though the Sea is now supposed by the eastern people to be their common grave, yet, that probably not being known to be the fact in Nahum's time, the prophet says, upon occasion of their disappearing, (speaking according to the received opinion,) that their place is not known where they are. I will only farther remark on this subject, says our author, that, agreeably to their being called by the prophet great locusts, it is observed by some naturalists, that those locusts which appear in such swarms, are larger than the locusts which are seen at other times; and I mention this, because I do not remember to have seen any thing of this sort in the commentators. See Observations, p. 120, &c.

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